There has been great change in Africa in the years since Nelson Mandela walked out of prison. Ever since 1999, the year he left office, we have seen considerable progress on a number of fronts: progress in peace and security, where the number of civil wars and inter-state conflicts continues to decline; in development, where we see a rise in direct investment, trade and aid, and measurable progress towards the Millennium Development Goals; and lastly, in the spread of freedom and the strengthening of human rights.
Progress has not always been as consistent, or as extensive, as we might have wished. Violent conflicts continue to rage in many spots on the continent, including Northern Uganda and Darfur. More than 300-million people south of the Sahara live on less than $1 a day — what the world rightly recognises as the most extreme kind of poverty — ravaged by disease, betrayed by their leaders, starved not only for food, but also for opportunity and hope.
Still, this wave of progress continues to unfold. Our challenge, in this new century, is to ensure that the gains some of us have made can be experienced not just by a few, but also by all who live on this rich, vast and varied continent.
We live in an era of interdependence. That is true everywhere in the world; but in some ways it is more obvious in Africa than anywhere else. We Africans know, perhaps more than most, that problems like water shortages and disease, like environmental degradation and political unrest, cannot be neatly contained within national borders. If some of us are poor, we are all the poorer; if some countries are unstable, we are all less secure.
Similarly, we know that solutions to these problems will come only if we work together — across borders, across boundaries of race, religion, language and culture.
To accelerate our progress, to extend its reach into every corner of this continent, we must work together towards a comprehensive strategy — one that rests on three pillars: peace and security; development; human rights and the rule of law.
They all reinforce each other; they all depend on each other, just as we do.
On the first of these pillars — peace and security — we have seen real and measurable progress in the past decade. Many bloody civil wars have ended and there are fewer inter-state conflicts than there used to be.
I am proud that the UN has been an important actor in resolving conflicts. And I am proud of what my fellow Africans have achieved in ending much of the violence that has disfigured our continent. South Africa, under President Thabo Mbeki’s leadership, has played a major role.
But we should be under no illusion.
About half the world’s armed conflicts, and some three-quarters of the UN’s peacekeepers, are in Africa. That is because millions of Africans are still at the mercy of brutal regimes, gangs and rebels, wielding small but deadly weapons and showing no respect for human rights, or even human life.
Every day, in Darfur, more men, women and children are being driven from their homes. Villages are burned. Murder and rape are commonplace. Beyond Sudan, less visible but no less devastating conflicts cry out for action by Africans and others. The ever-downward spiral of Zimbabwe, for example, is both intolerable and unsustainable; we all have a stake in resolving the crisis.
Stability in Africa may be spreading, but a continent at peace — which, after all, is what we seek — remains a distant goal. Most Africans have come to recognise the high cost of persistent conflict: the years of squandered development, the displacement of people, the enormous loss of life. And most realise that they need to work together to pacify the continent.
So we are working harder for peace. Through the African Union we are learning to better manage and resolve conflicts and, most important, to prevent new ones from breaking out.
We all share responsibility for each other’s security — all nations, not just those in the AU. At the UN Summit two years ago, all nations solemnly accepted that obligation — meaning that national sovereignty can no longer be used as a shield by governments that massacre their own people, or as an excuse for the rest of us to do nothing about it.
Only by working to make each other secure can we hope to achieve security for ourselves; only by acting together can we achieve lasting peace on this continent, or anywhere else in the world.
Make no mistake: this can be achieved. The Africa of my youth, the Africa I knew, the Africa that I remember, was not this violent Africa. Yes, there was repression, brutal repression, in South Africa and elsewhere. Yes, there were conflicts. But, on the whole, the Africa of my youth was tolerant, it was conciliatory, it was forgiving.
These are the best attributes of Africa. They are not a relic of the past. They have the power to define our future. We see the power of tolerance and reconciliation not only in remarkable individuals such as Nelson Mandela, or nations such as South Africa, but in Rwanda, Burundi, Liberia, Sierra Leone — nations reclaimed from the ashes of violence.
Of course, lasting peace requires more than the absence of war — or the continued presence of peacekeepers. Peace will endure only when it is accompanied by economic and social development — the second pillar of an African renaissance.
Here, again, there is reason for cautious optimism. Today, inflation is at historic lows in many countries, and 27 African economies are projected to grow by more than 5% this year. Direct investment has increased by more than 200% in the past five years. Exports are also rising. There have been spectacular advances on debt relief, most notably, Nigeria, as well as encouraging initiatives on aid and investment.
Africa has also made headway towards the UN Millennium Development Goals. The latest report from the UN shows that today — halfway to the 2015 target date — we’ve achieved positive change in several crucial areas. We are not excelling, but we are advancing.
Take the goal of achieving universal primary education. Enrolment is up in many countries, especially enrolment of girls. Or fighting Aids: through better treatment, victims are living longer and more productive lives; through better prevention, prevalence is dropping in several countries.
We have also seen progress in reducing maternal mortality, and in providing safe drinking water. We have seen how limited, even low-cost, interventions, such as fighting malaria with bed nets, can make dramatic improvements.
Today, one thing is clear to all of us here: Africa’s development disproves the widespread notion of our continent as a sea of undifferentiated poverty.
Still, there can be no denying the magnitude of African needs — and no minimising the stakes for us all. How much longer can the wealthiest nations derive great benefits from globalisation while billions of their fellow human beings remain in abject poverty? Is that sustainable? Is it morally defensible? If all lives have equal worth, should all not have the chance to live, work and prosper?
We know the right answer.
Every single African — every single person — should have that chance. So there is more to be done for the welfare of all.
It is vital that Africa leads its own development process. The key now is to reinforce the progress we have made and eliminate shortfalls in development assistance, debt relief and fair trade.
Of course, the imperative for leadership does not fall entirely on Africa. The G8 has made significant and welcome promises of aid. Their resolve to meet their Gleneagles commitment to increase official development assistance to Africa by $25-billion a year by 2010 is encouraging. But the only promises that truly count are promises met.
And the G8’s track record, to be frank, is not very good. As the chairman of the Africa Progress Panel — an independent body focused on fulfilment of these promises — I have urged the G8 to set a specific timeÂÂtable and deliver the aid it has pledged.
Of course, aid alone will not end poverty in Africa. Market access, fair terms of trade, and a non-discriminatory financial system are equally essential in helping Africans to lift themselves out of poverty and deprivation.
The path to prosperity begins at the fields of our farmers. Yet ours is the only continent that cannot feed itself. To address poverty at its core, we need a uniquely African green revolution. Our farmers need better seeds, soils and prices for what they sell. They need access to water, markets and credit. They need national policies that accelerate rural economic growth, investment and job creation.
To realise this vision, we must also strengthen the third pillar of African progress: human rights and the rule of law.
Ten years ago, I said some African leaders viewed human rights as a rich country’s luxury. Others treated it as an imposition, if not a plot. I find these thoughts demeaning to African people, and have called on them to ostracise leaders who seize power through military coups against elected governments.
Africans must guard against a pernicious, self-destructive form of racism — that unites citizens to rise up and expel tyrannical rulers who are white, but to excuse tyrannical rulers who are black.
Only when government is grounded in the rule of law — fairly and consistently applied — can society rest on a solid foundation. Leaders must ensure that the rules are respected — that they protect the rights and property of individual citizens. Leaders must also hold themselves to the same rules, the same restraints — never above them.
This is an edited excerpt of the Nelson Mandela Annual Lecture delivered on July 22 in Johannesburg by former UN secretary general Kofi Annan